Cardinals Pitcher Jake Woodford had not allowed a homerun in33 innings pitched prior to play tonight. This was something the Braves could not abide.
Austin Riley hit the fourth longest homerun in Busch Stadium history, a 473 foot no doubter to start the scoring in the top of the first. The opening half-inning was marred by a massive and inconsistent strike zone that saw Matt Olson rung up on a pitch that was crossed through the batter’s box he was standing in.
The Cardinals answered in the bottom of the first, scoring their first run on a fielders choice off the bat of Nolan Arenado. Even for the Braves typically stellar defense, the ball was hit to softly to turn two.
By the start of the second inning, home plate umpire Tony Randazzo settled in and the Braves bats took off.
Ozzie Albies hit a wall-scraping moonshot. Albies’ shot inspired his best friend Ronald Acuña to do the same. Acuña had to show up his buddy by driving in three runs instead of two and establish a 6-1 lead for Atlanta.
Much like Jared Shuster for the Braves yesterday, Woodford was resilient after a rough start, giving the Cardinals a hard-earned 4.1 innings pitched. He ended the night with a line of six earned runs, seven hits including three homeruns, three walks, and three strikeouts.
Braves Veteran Charlie Morton was inconsistent all night. He struggled at times to locate his pitches, but he managed to keep the Cardinals in the park. Morton largely fell victim to bloop singles, which scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. He should not feel as though the runs were cheap, as the Cardinals made hard outs all night.
The method matters less for the veteran, who struggled early in 2022 due to a prolonged recovery from a broken leg in the 2021 World Series. All Morton should worry about is avoiding another high first-half ERA.
He ended the night after 5.1 innings pitched. Braves skipper Brian Snitker pulled Morton following a single by Cardinals centerfielder Tommy Edman. Morton was relieved by Nick Anderson, who struck out both hitters he faced to strand the speedy outfielder at first base.
Taking the mound for the Cardinals in the seventh inning was Jordan Hicks, who has thrown over 1200 pitches in his MLB career that registered triple digits on the radar gun, over half of the total pitches that Hicks has thrown from big-league mounds.
Ronald Acuña does not care how hard Hicks can pitch. He greeted the right-handed fireballer with a sharp double and was promptly driven home by a Matt Olson single.
Travis d’Arnaud also does not care about the velocity he encountered from Hicks. He laced a double into right field that scored the Atlanta first baseman with ease.
2022 NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt trimmed the Braves’ lead to 8-4 with a solo homerun off of Nick Anderson. Goldschmidt is the first of a three-batter gauntlet featuring perennial all-star Nolan Arenado and St. Louis’ new backstop Willson Contreras. The latter two look like they are in a competition to be the most intimidating batters in MLB every time they step to the plate. This didn’t do anything for the duo against Anderson, who dispatched Arenado with a three-pitch strikeout and Contreras with a groundout to Ozzie Albies.
Jordan Hicks enjoyed a smoother top of the eighth inning, limiting the Braves to one walk and no hits to turn in a scoreless frame. Hicks threw 35 pitches tonight, the thought of doing so at his velocity makes my elbow hurt.
Colin McHugh entered to handle the bottom of the eighth for the Braves, but struggled with location. He twice had batters down 0-2 and allowed them to reach base, one via a walk and one via a fielder’s choice on a near-double play.
McHugh’s signature slider generated swings-and-misses when he could locate it. Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo helped the erratic McHugh escape the eighth with no runs allowed via a generous strike three call on Cardinals left fielder Alex Burleson.
Interim Braves closer AJ Minter entered the bottom of the ninth for Atlanta despite it being a non-save situation. This is because the aforementioned 3-4-5 gauntlet of Goldschmidt, Arenado and Contreras were due up.
Minter worked through that challenge, inducing flyouts from Goldschmidt and Contreras. Arenado reached base on a soft line-drive over the head of Ozzie Albies.
Michael Harris II closed the game on a beautifully read catch of a fast-falling flyout to right center. This was yet another example of Harris II’s ability to make tough plays look easy.
The Braves took game one of this three game set in St. Louis 8-4. Charlie Morton collected his first win of the season, while Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley’s early-game homers were their respective firsts of the season.
Tomorrow, Dylan Dodd will make his MLB debut as the Braves starter, taking on a familiar foe in former Met Stephen Matz.
Matz holds a 3.42 ERA in 15 starts vs Atlanta, but he has not faced the Braves since 2020. In that start, Matz was chased after two innings as the Braves put up six runs on the veteran left-hander.
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